Carrying case



June 2, 1964 Filed 001;. 16, 1961 F. A. HOFFMAN 3,135,413

CARRYING CASE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I? T a /6 FJ Z6 n g 29 IIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIII June 2, 1964 Filed Oct. 16. 1961 F. A. HOFFMAN CARRYING CASE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV EN TOR.

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' Indiana Ufl f States Pa en Qfifiw 3,135,413 Patentedv June ,2, 196% J 3,135,413 r V CARRYING CASE Frank A. Hoffman, Columbus, ind, assignor to Arvin Industries, Inc., Columbus, link, a corporation of Filed st. 16,1961, Ser. No. 145,152 Claims. (Cl. 220-4) This invention relates to a carrying case, and has for its object the provision of such a case of attractive appearance which can bernanufactured from economical sheetmetal, which will prove sturdy and durable in use, which can be easily opened for ready access to the con-v tents held therein, and which can be releasably locked in closed position.

'In accordance with the preferred form of the invention, there is provided a pair of opposed mating shells provided with cooperative locking means for locking them in closed position, and with one of said shells being provided with a hand grip for carrying the case from one location to another. Each of said shells comprises a generally U-shaped wrap forming a pair of sidewalls integrally connected to a third wall member. The longitudinal edges of said wrap are bent inwardly upon themselves, and the lateral edges of said wrap are likewise bent inwardly upon themselves with the ends thereof disposed in overlapping relationship with the inwardly bent longitudinal wrap edges whereby the intermediate portions wrap face and the inwardly bent lateral edges of the wrap to thus rigidly interconnect said end panels and wrap.

Conveniently, the open sides of the two shells bordered by the inwardly bent longitudinal wrap edges and the inwardly bent end panel edges have the same cross-sectional extent, whereby the two shells may be disposed in caseclosed position with their longitudinal and lateral edges abutting each other and releasably locked in such a closed position as by the locking means provided on said shells. Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows, and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a carrying case embodying'the inventon;

FIG. 2 is an end elevation of the case shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the lower case shell, with portions thereof being broken away;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a corner of the lower case shell;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of one corner of the lower case shell with portions thereof being shownin rigidly fastened to the upper wall of said shell.

Conveniently, the two shells 10 and 12 are substantially identical in construction, and the construction of only one of such shells will be described in detail. As shown,

' the lower shell 12 comprises a U-shaped sheet-metal wrap 20 bent to form a pair of opposed side walls 22 integrally connected to a bottom wall 24. The longitudinal edges of the side walls 22 are bent back inwardly against themselves, as at 26, and after the bends 26 .are made in the side walls 22, the lateral edges of the wrap are bent back inwardly, as at 28. I As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the inwardly bent edges 28 abut the inwardly bent edges 26 in an overlapping relationship at each corner of the shell to stifien the corners thereof and further provide a channeled space 29 at each end of the. shell extending between the edges 26 and formed by the inwardly bent edges 28 and the adjacent inwardly presented face of the wrap 20.

The ends of the lower'shell 12 are formed by a pair of sheet-metal ends panels 30. Each of said end panels has its upper longitudinal edge bent back inwardly upon itself, as at 32. Projecting outwardly from the remaining edges of the end panels 30 are flanges 34 which are disposed in planes generally normal to the planes of said end panels. Theflanges 34 on the lateral stretches of the end panels terminate below the bottom of the inwardly bent lateral edges 32 of said end panels to thus permit said fianges to be bindingly received in the spaces 2? of the wrap 20 to rigidly interconnect each of the end panels to the wrap 20. Conveniently, as shown in FIG. 5, each of the flanges 34 is deformed, as at 35, to give said flanges a maximum thickness greater than the minimum width of the channeled spaces 29 when the shell is assembled. As shown in FIG. 3, the inwardly bent lateral edges 32 of the end panels 30 have a length corresponding to the distance between the opposed inner faces of the inwardly bent lateral edges 28 of the wrap 26 whereby said end panel edges 32 will abut the edges 28 and will further serve to strengthen and brace the corners of the shell.

Conveniently, the ends of the inwardly bent edges 26 and 32 of the wrap 20 and end panels 39, respectively, may terminate in inwardly extending flanges 37 generally parallel to the plane of the bottom shell wall 24 to provide a supporting rim upon which a tray, projector platform, or the like, may be supported within the case.

The upper shell 10 is constructed substantially identically to the lower shell 12, and to this end, it comprises a central wrap 20 bent into a generally U-shape to provide a pair of side walls 22 integrally connected to a top wall 38. The longitudinal edges of the wrap 20' are bent inwardly upon themselves, as at 26' and the lateral edges of said wrap are bent inwardly, as at 28' with their ends being disposed in overlapping abutting relationship with the ends of the inwardly bent edges 26 and their intermediate portions spaced slightly inwardly from the inner face of the wrap 20' to define channels 22'. The ends of the upper shell 10 are formed by a pair of end panels 30' having their lower edges bent inwardly upon themselves, as at 32', and provided along their remaining edges with outwardly projecting flanges 34' received in the channels '29 between the inwardly bent lateral wrap edges 28' and the inner face of said wrap to thus rigidly interconnect said end panels to said wrap.

As shown, each of the shells 10 and 12 has the same cross-sectional extent at its open side so that with the case in closed position, the inwardly bent longitudinal edges 26' rest on the inwardly bent longitudinal edges 26, and the inwardly bent end panel edges 32' rest on the inwardly bent end panel edges 32. With the opposed edges of the two shells in such mating relationship, the locks 14 may be disposed in operative position for releasably locking the two shells in their case-closed position.

I claim as my invention:

1. A carrying case, comprising a pair of mating sheetmetal shells releasably locked together, each of said shells comprising a generally U-shaped wrap forming a pair of side walls integrally connected to a third wall member, said wrap having first inwardly bent margins generally parallel to said pair of sidewalls extending along its longitudinal edges and second inwardly bent margins extend- 3 ing along its lateral edges said second inwardly bent margins, overlapping said first margins at the ends thereof and spaced from the inner face of said wrap, and a pair of end panels each having aninwardly bent margin along one of its edges and flanges along its remaining edges generally normal to the plane of said panel, said flanges being bindingly received between said second inwardly bent margins and the inner face of the wrap for rigidly interconnecting said panels and Wrap.

2. A carrying case, comprising a pair of mating sheetmetal shells releasable locked together, each of said shells comprising a generally U-shaped Wrap forming a pair of side walls integrally connected to a third wall member, said wrap having its longitudinal edges bent inwardly back upon themselves along the length thereof, the lateral edges of said wrap being bent inwardly generally parallel to the planes of said sidewalls and third wall member to abut said longitudinal edges at the ends thereof and spaced from the inner wrap face adjacent the lateral ends of said wrap, and a pair of generally planar rectangular end panels each having one of its edges bent inwardly back upon itself, and flanges along its remaining edges generally normal to the plane of said end panel and bindingly received in the space between the adjacent inwardly bent lateral edge of said wrap and the inner face adjacent said lateral edge for rigidly interconnecting said panels and wrap.

3. A carrying case set forth in claim 2 with the addition that said flanges on said end panels have a maximum thickness greater than the minimum thickness of the spacing between said wrap and the inwardly bent lateral edges of said wrap.

4. A carrying case as set forth in claim 2 with the addition that the ends of said inwardly bent edges on each of said end panels abut the opposed face of said first inwardly bent wrap edges.

5. A carrying case as set forth in claim 2 with the addition that said inwardly bent longitudinal edges of the wrap and inwardly bent edges of the end panels on one of said shells are provided with flanges generally parallel with said third wall member of said wrap.

References Cited in the file of. this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,798,781 Anderson July 9, 1957 

1. A CARRYING CASE, COMPRISING A PAIR OF MATING SHEETMETAL SHELLS RELEASABLY LOCKED TOGETHER, EACH OF SAID SHELLS COMPRISING A GENERALLY U-SHAPED WRAP FORMING A PAIR OF SIDE WALLS INTEGRALLY CONNECTED TO A THIRD WALL MEMBER, SAID WRAP HAVING FIRST INWARDLY BENT MARGINS GENERALLY PARALLEL TO SAID PAIR OF SIDEWALLS EXTENDING ALONG ITS LONGITUDINAL EDGES AND SECOND INWARDLY BENT MARGINS EXTENDING ALONG ITS LATERAL EDGES SAID SECOND INWARDLY BENT MARGINS, OVERLAPPING SAID FIRST MARGINS AT THE ENDS THEREOF AND SPACED FROM THE INNER FACE OF SAID WRAP, AND A PAIR OF END PANELS EACH HAVING AN INWARDLY BENT MARGIN ALONG ONE OF ITS EDGES AND FLANGES ALONG ITS REMAINING EDGES GENERALLY NORMAL TO THE PLANE OF SAID PANEL, SAID FLANGES BEING BINDINGLY RECEIVED BETWEEN SAID SECOND INWARDLY BENT MARGINS AND THE INNER FACE OF THE WRAP FOR RIGIDLY INTERCONNECTING SAID PANELS AND WRAP. 